Computer software applications allow users to create a variety of documents to assist them in work, education, and leisure. For example, popular word processing applications allow users to create letters, articles, books, memoranda, and the like. Spreadsheet programs allow users to store, manipulate, print, and display a variety of alpha-numeric data. Such applications have a number of well-known strengths, including rich editing, formatting and calculation.
However, documents created by such software applications do not provide users with contextually sensitive tools, help content, or support. That is, as the user is entering text or data into such software applications, these applications do not provide the user with helpful tools or assistance based on the context of the text or data being entered by the user. Internet web-based applications attempt to solve some business problems through the creation and deployment of web-based templates with which users may enter information that may be transmitted to a back-end web server for the purpose of registering the user for some type of service. Such web-based applications often may include links with which the user may navigate to a separate web site for helpful information or assistance with the current web-based application or document in use by the user. However, such web-based applications suffer compared to the aforementioned software application documents in that modern web-based applications seldom offer rich editing, formatting, printing, and calculation.
By way of example, in a typical setting, a user may decide to prepare a resume using a word processing application loaded on her home computer. As the user prepares the resume, she likely will fill in such sections such as “personal information,” “education,” “experience,” and “extra-curricular activities.” As the user is completing each of those sections, she may require assistance, including information on the preferred ordering of the sections, information on the preferred number of past jobs to place in the “experience” section, and the like. In order to receive such assistance, the user likely must read a book on resumes, or go online to an internet-based resume help site for the information.
In contrast, the user may enter an internet-based resume site to complete a resume using a web-based resume template. The user may be allowed to enter specific information in given data fields, and the user may be provided with internet web site links for navigating to sites where she may obtain assistance with various sections of the document. When the user has completed preparation of the web-based resume, the user may be allowed to submit the resume to some web-based job service, or the user may be able to print the template. However, the functionality of the user's word processing application, such as rich editing and formatting of the resume, is likely not available to the user given the limitations of the web-based application in contrast to the user's computer-based word processor.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.